It's The Journey
by Dairi
Summary: Sometimes it is the journey that proves more eventful than the destination. Or, that one where Oliver gets to act as Felicity's seatbelt.


**A/N:** This is my first time playing with these guys, my first Arrow fic ever so please be gentle. I didn't orginally intend for this to be as angsty as it ended up being - got away from me a touch, but still a happy ending I will say.

Also to note, I have very limited medical knowledge and I don't even know if what happens here is a thing or not but uhm, artistic license and all that? And a lot of glossing over lol. Heh, anyway thanks so much for reading this and would love to know what you think!

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"Ugh, remind me again why I am here?" Felicity grumbled after what had to be the 32nd pothole in the at-one-time paved road. Now it was mostly over grown and she was praying they would get to the unpaved sections soon - something she would've never thought she'd do before. They were in the far outskirts of Starling City and heading further away, out in the boones, in a rented jeep made for off-roading. That did not, however, mean that it came with the best suspension system around...

"Because we asked nicely?" Came the answer from the front passenger seat, which she glared at and felt like delivering a vicious kick though the occupant would probably only laugh. But then Diggle spoke up from the driver's seat, eyes still on the road. If it could still be called a 'road.'

"Because we need you on-site to hack into this guy's tech and make sure his GPS doesn't jump on us again." Ever the voice of reason, Digg reminded her of the actual reason she had agreed and even suggested that she come along. And he was right, but why did this dude's base have to be way in the middle of no where? Why not deep in the city, or even under it, at least then she would be remotely closer to a coffe shop, which was totally nessecary considering the hour they had arrived to pick her up this morning.

"Promise, tomorrow morning I'll bring you in a coffee from that place downtown you like." Oliver said suddenly from the seat in front of her, twisting around to look her in the eye with a smile. Felicity snapped her lips shut when she realized she must've said most of that rant aloud. "For now, why don't you try and get some rest. We're still a few hours out yet." There was a pause as he shifted back around to face forward, and then, "And Felicity? Thank you."

Another pause, then Felicity huffed, settling back into her side of the vechile and grumbling about how she would be sleeping if they hadn't decided to do this in a single day, which happened to be the last day of their vacation time...settling between the door and the seat, she glared over at Roy, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully on his side of the vehicle. How could he stay sleeping through all these bumps and with all the jostling going on? Felicity sighed and bundled up her extra sweater to use as a pillow, and closed her eyes.

Not that the 'pillow' helped at all in cushioning her head, but she still somehow managed to drift off.

She realized she must've, because the next thing she knew she was startled awake when the vechile jerked in a most violent way and her head smashed against the upper part of the door, which was quite a feat considering she was actually wearing a seatbelt. White hot pain seared through her skull, and she couldn't hold back the moan of pain. Her head was swimming and pounding and hurting so much - it took her way too long to realize someone's hands were on her arms and why were her eyes still closed? She should open them and tell whomever it was that she was ok and...and who had glued her eyes shut?

She felt the hands on her arms tighten and she knew who it most likely was, knew she needed to assure him she was just fine, but it was proving exceedingly difficult to get her eyelids to obey. After what seemed a herculean effort, she finally succeeded in lifting her eyelashes a crack. Enough to see Oliver's concerned face looming over her, and thankfully blocking out the sun because ouch that really hurt right now, but when had he come round and opened the door? For that matter, when had they stopped? She was about to open her mouth and ask him, noting the relief that seemed to color his features as he saw her eyes had opened, when her limited gaze finally settled on his lips and she realized...he was talking, his mouth was moving, but...she couldn't hear a thing. Panic flooded her system and her eyes, now wide, leapt back to his. She watched as he paused, his gaze boring into her as he realized something was wrong. She saw him mouth her name and she let out what she knew would be a paniced sound, choked off. She lifted a discordant hand, aiming for his lips but landing on his chin, fingers slowly walking up to ghost over his lips and then fall away. The look of fear in his eyes was starting to get to her, too, and she knew she had to get out what was wrong because the longer she waited the worse it would be for both of them. She idly wondered if she could even get the words out, and what they would sound like. Her hand dropped to her chest and she crawled it up to her throat.

Also...focus? That was getting a whole lot harder. The pain in her head had not diminished in any way, but she grit her teeth against it and forced herself to focus. This was certainly only a temporary condition, brought on by either shock or the bump to her head or maybe both. It would fade in a few minutes but it didn't make it any less freaky when you saw someone speaking to you - when you could feel the rumble in your chest of your own voice, but hear not a thing.

"I...I can't, hear...anything." She formed the words and her lips and mouth knew how to respond, but it was still slow and sluggish. She blinked slowly and Oliver's attention was suddenly on something on the other side of her and then she was being turned slowly, and gingerly but the movement of her head still had her gasping in pain. Diggle was facing her now and shining a light in her eyes that made her hiss, a presence at her back preventing her from scooting away any. She could see his lips move, too, and knew he was muttering something. Then he disappeared and as she was very gently moved again, realized the presence at her back was Oliver, because she was suddenly pressed into the side of his neck, against his chest. Only then did the sensation of his arms holding her tightly register with her. Diggle was still doing something, checking or dressing the headwound she was sure, and she wondered fleetingly if it had bled at all. She vaguely remembered something about head wounds bleeding a lot...and then her eyes fell closed and she ceased to wonder, because she was so tired...

And was promptly shaken awake, her eyes popping open to see Oliver looking down at her with a wild expression. She wrinkled her nose up at him in distaste, her silent communication of a protest, and she could see the worried edge of his gaze beginning to fade. Then she shivered. She hadn't even realized she was cold until that moment, but she was. There was movement - though none of it jostling her - and then a red hoodie was pulled around her shoulders, her sweater from before covering her lap already. She sighed, snuggling down deeper into Oliver, taking in his scent as her eyes drifted shut...

And again, seeming only seconds later she was shaken awake, but when she blinked up at Oliver he had a much more 'controled' look on his face, though the worry was still clear in his eyes. The pain in her head had dulled considerably and she wondered if they had given her something. She could feel the hum of the jeep under her and knew they were moving again. And suddenly she remembered why they were even here to begin with, her eyes searching out Oliver's again but he seemed to know what she was thinking.

"The mission can wait. Your safety is much more imporant to me..to all of us, Felicity." Oliver said, his voice low. Felicity pouted.

"If you think I'm ok with getting up so early this morning for absolutely no-" she cut herself off as her eyes widened, watching Oliver's slow grin.

She had heard him.

She had heard him and responded without even thinking about it.

The vibration under her died away and she knew Diggle, if he was still driving, had stopped the jeep and was now likely coming around to pull open the back passenger door to look over her again. Other than a fair nasty concussion, she seemed to be all right.

It took a lot of convincing but she was finally able to get them to turn back around and finish the job. Under the condition that she stay in the jeep as long as possible, which she was fairly certain she could hack this guy remotely if they got her close enough, even from the jeep. But she be darned if she was gonna ever do this again.

Though the lingering kiss Oliver had pressed to her forehead, and the way he'd acted as her seatbelt the entire drive back home, made everything totally worth it.


End file.
